Is the grass greener on the other side.? Academia to Industry Stephen B. Helliwell Senior Investigator, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
Is the grass greener? http://eatrio.net/2013/04/portuguese-idioms-joao-sem-braco.html
Research and Development are the Core Drivers of Novartis Novartis Oncology Novartis Pharmaceuticals R&D Sandoz Alcon NIBR 3 NIBR Overview 2017
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) Drug discovery and early development ~6,000 Scientists / 6 sites globally >500 Ongoing clinical trials 600 500 400 300 Phase 3 Phase 2 Phase 1 200 100 0 Source: ClinicalTrials.gov as of December, 2016 ~400 ~90 Research projects New Molecular Entities NIBR 4 NIBR Overview 2017
My Career 88-92 BSc (Hons) Uni of Kent, UK including sandwich year at Ciba-Geigy, Basel, Switzerland (now Novartis!) 92-96 PhD Biozentrum, Uni of Basel, Switzerland. 97-98 Post-Doc, Uni of Bern, Switzerland. 98-01 Post-Doc, MIT, Cambridge MA, USA. 02-05 Junior Group Leader, Biozentrum, Uni of Basel 05-10 Research Investigator, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), Basel. Yeast chemogenomic profiling HIP HOP 11-present Senior Investigator, NIBR, Basel. Mitochondrial disease, Liver disease.
How did I get to my current position? 88-92 BSc (Hons) Uni of Kent, UK including sandwich year at Ciba-Geigy, Basel, Switzerland (now Novartis!) Applied + luck Applied ended up in different lab 92-96 PhD Biozentrum, Uni of Basel, Switzerland. 97-98 Post-Doc, Uni of Bern, Switzerland. 98-01 Post-Doc, MIT, Cambridge MA, USA. 02-05 Junior Group Leader, Biozentrum, Uni of Basel 05-10 Research Investigator, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), Basel. Yeast chemogenomic profiling HIP HOP 11-present Senior Investigator, NIBR, Basel. Mitochondrial disease, Liver disease. engineered serendipity engineering = published papers, network Asked collaborating Prof. if I could come to Bern he said yes mutual science interest. Wrote 3 PI s told them I was coming to visit anyway (USA), 3 offers, chose MIT. Via network returned to old dept. Had generated other options at this time. Via PhD network right skills, right place, right time - Luck By default, projects close, departments re-arrange (Luck)
What does my job look like today? Lab head (wet lab) Supervise 1-4 associates (Apprentice, BSc, MSc) Master s students; Post Doc s (central funds competitive across NIBR) Drive drug discovery projects (drive technology platforms) Projects fall within loose framework - up to you to come up with novel ideas, approaches, targets etc Perform enough exps at risk / in collaboration to persuade senior management to start a drug discovery program But also (at same time!) Learn to collaborate to get more things done Maintain lab, follow all HSE, ethics guidelines Project manage, be aware of budget Publish (peer reviewed and patents) Manage your associate s careers Manage your manager Create and maintain your (internal / external) network (perhaps) further training (almost) never refuse an opportunity to talk about your science.
Science Academia Industry Publication Curiosity-driven. Branching. Depth. Not necessarily directed. Individual / small groups. Resources have to be earned. Good science The right experiment (controls!). Statistically relevant data. Hypothesisdriven or fishing expedition. Pipeline Goal-oriented. Goal will change. Time-dependent. Linear. Breadth. Larger more complex teams. Hierarchy. Well-resourced. All tech available.
Many disciplines to make a registered drug Biology Assay development Cellular biology Computational biology Electrophysiology Genomics and molecular biology Human Genetics Medicine Molecular Biology Pharmacology Physiology Protein biochemistry, expression, and synthesis Protein engineering and biopharmaceuticals Proteomics Structural biology and crystallography Veterinarian services Chemistry Analytical chemistry Medicinal and synthetic chemistry Rational design Computational chemistry In silico and de novo design High-throughput screening Related Sciences Engineering Mathematics Statistics Bio- and chemi-informatics IT, hardware, and software design
Know yourself... Qualifications Needs Desires Personality Alternatives Timing Think long term Keep options open Be analytic Be honest with yourself Searls, David PLOS Comp Bio 2009 http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000388
Questions? stephen.helliwell@novartis.com